Think Dirty is the creator of a cosmetic ingredient comparison app and company founder and CEO Lily Tse tells CosmeticsDesign.com USA that there are a lot of exciting opportunities in digital marketing and mobile apps.
“Most shoppers have a smart phone with them when they go shopping for beauty products in-store,” she says. “Being able to get information at their fingertips the moment they need is extremely timely and valuable.”
The opportunities for marketers, explains Tse, will be the ability to push out relevant information at the right time, when they are needed most in-store.
The cosmetics industry use mobile apps mainly for rich content for blogs and social media which are great for at home users, who have longer attention span.
Room to explore
In the mobile space, Lily explains there are some companies out there using social network for shopping recommendations, but there’s definitely room to explore more on what they can do with the technology.
“They can create a dialogue with users in more real time / casual format,” she continues. “Twitter chat is a great way to engage users, especially the millennials. Snapchat is an emerging platform that’s interesting for brands who are open for experiential form of marketing communications.”
When asked if the cosmetics industry has missed a trick by not engaging these platforms initially like in other industries, Lily says “It’s never too late to catch up.”
“With increasing numbers of social media platforms, smart phones and tablets in the market, the cosmetics industry can pick and choose the best tools and platforms to engage their most active fans or customers.”
“They can actively listen and thoughtfully respond to them. It's crucial to create an open and honest dialogue with the new generation of consumers, who is always in control on their information sources and voting their pocketbook with brands who are the most ‘liked’,” she adds.
Tse will be speaking further about the opportunities in digital and mobile at the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit in New York on May 15-17. For more information, click here.